Avant-garde theater experience goes underground in Rosendale

Monday

Jul 29, 2013 at 2:00 AM

A new, two-part play performed Sunday in an old mine at Century House Historical Society in Rosendale turned out to be so cutting-edge that some of the 250 people who attended came away not knowing when it actually ended.

Pauline Liu

ROSENDALE — A new, two-part play performed Sunday in an old mine at Century House Historical Society in Rosendale turned out to be so cutting-edge that some of the 250 people who attended came away not knowing when it actually ended.

"Isn't that great?" said Anne Gorrick, the society's president. "It worked; they couldn't tell art from life," she said.

According to Gorrick, the play "draws on the rich and crazy history of the (limestone) mines in the Hudson Valley" and is a celebration of the region's rich cement-making tradition.

It's called "Dada Spill," which producers said refers to the term for a security breach. Dada is also an early 20th century avant-garde art/literary movement launched in reaction to the horrors of World War I.

The play pokes fun at the fact that one of the mines on the property where the society is located was turned into a nuclear bomb shelter for corporate documents during the Cold War, Gorrick said.

The play was written by Elana Greenfield of New Paltz, who said she enjoyed the big turnout and the fact that the actors managed to concentrate despite the flow of activity around them.

Under the eerie glow of lights alongside a subterranean lake in the Widow Jane Mine, actors mingled with members of the audience, who were given miners' hats to wear.

They were told upon entering that any data they provided would be stored securely in the mine and be lost forever. It was a mixture of street theater and the Theater of the Absurd.

"It was really avant garde," said Doreen O'Shea of Kingston. "I didn't understand any of it," said Ed O'Shea, her husband, with a shrug. But Holly Post of Woodstock thought it was funny. "It points out all of the ridiculousness of all the data we collect," said Post.

"Dada is not for everyone, because it's absurd and that makes some people uncomfortable," said Mau Scoettle, a co-producer. Half of the event's proceeds will benefit the historical society. The play is the first of a series called The Mine Project.